qotd: GlaxoSmithKline's research priorities are for blockbusters, not patients

The New England Journal of Medicine

September 19, 2010

Editorial

Products at Risk

Gregory D. Curfman, M.D., Stephen Morrissey, Ph.D., and Jeffrey M. Drazen, M.D.

In this issue of the Journal, we publish the results of a clinical trial investigating step-up control in adult patients with asthma whose disease was not well controlled by low-dose inhaled glucocorticoids. This study, which compared the utility of treating such patients with inhaled tiotropium bromide, inhaled salmeterol, or higher doses of inhaled glucocorticoids, was conceived and implemented by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Asthma Clinical Research Network (ACRN). The study constitutes comparative effectiveness research, in which the products of a number of different companies are compared in a well-defined clinical setting. Simply put, the companies' products are put "at risk" in a trial to determine whether the various treatments are superior or noninferior to one another.

The study design, a three-way crossover, required that the investigators have active drug and placebo for tiotropium and salmeterol. As is common is such situations, the investigators took a mature version of the study protocol to the manufacturers of these drugs and asked them to supply active drug and matching placebo inhalers. Boehringer Ingelheim (the manufacturer of tiotropium) agreed to provide the materials, but GlaxoSmithKline (the manufacturer of Salmeterol) refused. Because of Glaxo's refusal, the investigators had to spend $900,000 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) — and therefore from taxpayers — to repackage the active drug and to create a visually identical placebo for use in the trial. The NIH deserves credit for providing the funds to obtain the Glaxo drug when the company declined. In the end, the study results provided the truth — that tiotropium is not inferior to salmeterol for this indication.

Many drug companies realize that it is in their best interest to provide these materials, not only because the research that is completed by an independent group may show findings in their favor, but also because it is part of their responsibility to the community to allow their products to be tested against the competition by legitimate third parties. They recognize that their mission, like GlaxoSmithKline's stated goal, is "to improve the quality of human life" rather than to simply increase market share.

The most precious commodity that drug manufacturers possess is the trust of their research subjects, and to maintain this trust they need to be willing to put their products at risk. When they refuse to provide their drugs to legitimate investigators, the researchers will get their studies done without company help. It will take more time and cost more money, but in the end, the research will be done and the company will be perceived as having acted in its own self-interest rather than having worked to enhance the health of the community.

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe1010348

Comment:  Everyone agrees, or should agree, on the need for more comparative effectiveness research. We need more information about which medications provide greater benefit to patients, and which ones provide greater value - lower costs without compromises in therapeutic benefit.

During the process of creating the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), it was not only the private insurance industry that was given carte blanche by the White House, but it was also the pharmaceutical industry. The representatives of both industries professed to supporting solutions that would benefit the American patient, and, in return, they were given legislation that will infuse hundreds of billions of dollars into their own coffers.

GlaxoSmithKline now gives us a hint of their sincerity. Although they state that their mission is "to improve the quality of human life," it is clear that increasing market share is a much higher priority for them. They will not participate in a study that potentially could dent the sales of a blockbuster product.

The pharmaceutical firms and the private insurance industry got a great deal from President Obama and Congress, and patients got a bad deal. We desperately need to set aside the health care financing structure of PPACA, and enact a program that would benefit patients first - an improved Medicare for all.